Thursday, June 21, 2018

Latest nightmare for migrants ends -- for now -- June 21, 2018 column

By MARSHA MERCER

As President Donald Trump signed an executive order
Wednesday, ending his cruel policy of separating migrant children from their
parents at the southern border, he said: “You’re going to have a lot of happy
people.”

Don’t believe it.

This is not the start of a kinder, gentler Trump. If
anything, the president likely will feel the need to show his tougher side to compensate
for caving in on his administration’s policy of separating families.

Yes, the shameful spectacle of families being torn
apart has ended – at least for now.

Families seeking asylum and a better life after
long and dangerous trips to the border will be allowed to stay together. But Trump
wants to keep them incarcerated indefinitely.

So much for the Statue of Liberty’s promise to
“huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

His “zero tolerance” crackdown continues, with his
administration continuing to prosecute every person caught crossing the border
illegally.

There’s no plan to reunite more than 2,300 babies and children
already separated from their parents and held in facilities around the country.

Immigration officials reportedly kept such poor records
that reunification specialists warn it may take parents a long time to find
their children and some may never find them at all.

In addition, Trump plans to issue tougher rules for
legal – as well as illegal – immigration.

Trump’s retreat shows the power of social and
traditional media. The photos and audio of toddlers wailing for their parents
were horrifying.

His about-face proved he lied. After repeatedly claiming
he could not end by executive order the policy he initiated, he did just that.

The administration announced its zero-tolerance policy
in April, and yet Trump repeatedly blamed Democrats, as in this tweet: “The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the
Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda.” He sometimes blamed a “law” that doesn’t exist.

As the crisis over separations grew, Trump met Tuesday
with congressional Republicans behind closed doors. Whatever else they said,
the Republicans appeased the president’s fragile ego by giving him a standing
ovation. We know because he tweeted out a picture.

The next day, he reversed the policy he had said he
couldn’t reverse through an executive order so hastily written it misspelled
separation. The fix may be temporary.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned
members of Congress in a private meeting that family separations could resume
if Congress fails to go along with Trump’s immigration demands, The Washington
Post reported.

Trump believes his tough stand on immigration was key
to winning the White House, and he’s terrified of appearing weak.

Not until every former first lady, his own wife and
daughter, a bevy of Republicans in Congress, the American people and the Pope rose
in moral outrage did he reluctantly play the compassion card.

“If you’re really, really pathetically weak, the
country’s going to be overrun with millions of people, and if you’re strong, then
you don’t have any heart,” Trump told congressional Republicans Wednesday.
“Perhaps I’d rather be strong, but that’s a tough dilemma.”

Currently the government is prohibited by a court
order known as the Flores settlement from keeping migrant children in detention
longer than 20 days. Trump directed

Attorney General Jeff Sessions to seek a
modification to the order so kids and families can be kept indefinitely,
throughout their court proceedings.

The administration is considering several other
policies to curtail legal immigration, including “tightening rules on student
visas and exchange programs; limiting visas for temporary agricultural workers;
making it harder for legal immigrants who have

applied for any welfare programs
to obtain residency; and collecting biometric data from visitors from certain
countries,” Politico reported.

While Trump enjoyed his usual support from Republicans
– Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers not to believe news on other TV
networks -- Democrats claimed the moral high ground, contending the separations
would leave a lasting stain on the country, similar to the shame of Japanese
internment camps during World War II.

Both sides, unfortunately, are more intent on scoring
political points for November than on fixing the immigration system everyone
agrees is broken.

So, no, President Trump, there are not a lot of happy
people -- not Republicans, not Democrats and not desperate migrant families who
are still yearning to breathe free.